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AyeAyeMagpie

Our first chickens are home!

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We went to pick up the first of our chickens today. From left to right they are Connie (Buff Orpington), Rosie (Wheaton Marans), and Tilda (Cream Legbar).

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They are all a couple of weeks away from laying. They were in the same pen together and very familiar with the breeder's border collie so we have an advantage in getting them to adapt to their new environment. We've kept them to their small eglu run today and they seemed quite settled but alert to all of the different noises of the neighbourhood. 

 

We'llbe going to visit another breeder tomorrow to pick up a few more. Hoping for a copper blue Maran and two large Silkies but who knows what will happen when we get there. More pics to follow! 

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10 hours ago, AyeAyeMagpie said:

 

We'llbe going to visit another breeder tomorrow to pick up a few more. Hoping for a copper blue Maran and two large Silkies but who knows what will happen when we get there. More pics to follow! 

They are very pretty! Just keep them confined to the run for the forst few weeks, as in no free ranging the garden. They need to get used to their home.

Also, adding chickens might not be as straightforward as it sounds. Be prepared to see a lot of squabbling and even fighting! These three now “own” the coop and run and might not be very welcoming to some “invaders”. 

Others here would advice some quarantine time too, as you are getting birds from two different sources.

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Chicklover - You're going to have so many beautiful eggs! I hope you post a pic when they start laying.

Mikegm - Your set up is so pretty! We've just put together a second hand cube as well. Second hand eglus tend to be in great condition.

 

Cat tails - I realise that the way we're establishing our flock is not strictly best practice but we don't have the equipment to quarantine and phase their introduction. We're building a 6' x 9' walk in run today (not omlet, wooden framed) for extra space so they'll not be right on top of each other and the hens with a 24 hour head start in the coop won't be familiar with the run, so hopefully that will help.

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Mikegm, you're set up looks so nice! We have three chicken coops and an extra rabbit hutch for egg laying, to accommodate our 32 feather babies. My husband built two of the coops(the two brown ones) Maybe someday I'll be able to get some cubes. I think they're lovely!

Ayeayemagpie, I'll be sure to post some pictures of the beautiful blue eggs when my sweeties start laying. I realized last night after I posted about my legbars, that it may have sounded like I only had those four. Sorry if I mislead. We have 32❤️

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We picked up the rest of our flock on Sunday. We have a blue Marans (not the copper-blue I was hoping for) called Myrtle. She's a bit older than the others and has already given us a lovely big egg. 

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Then there's our two Silkies, Charlotte (white) and Nora (black), which were primarily bought as pets for my children. I can't believe how docile they are, my youngest is not quite 2 and she can confidently pick up and hold Nora by herself. 

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And here'sour first eggs! (Can you tell that I'm just a little bit excited?) The first is from Myrtle, the Blue Marans and the second, we guess, is from one of the Silkies. The breeder saud her white ones give blue eggs, which suggests a cross somewhere in their history, so maybe this is from Nora? 

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3 minutes ago, The Dogmother said:

Lovely photos, just encourage the littlies to hold the hens away from their faces - chickens love to peck at shiny stuff, and bright eyes and teeth on youngetsr fall into that category.

And I learned the hard way to remove jewellery. I nearly lost a finger when I wore my rings out while handling them. They peck hard when they're trying to steal something shiny! lol

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Congrats! They are beautiful. 

I can second the eyes and teeth having had mine pecked a few times. Our rescues go for kid's eyelashes so we have had to be quite careful . They do learn eventually but it's a bit sore. And yes rings! One of our rescues likes toes. 😬 lovely photos, they look so friendly already! 

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Thank you all for the warnings about pecking. I'm utterly new to this and wouldn't have known otherwise. My eldest daughter and I bathed her white Silkie today (she'd gotten ever so slightly mucky and my daughter was desperate for an excuse) so I've now got her being careful not to put her face too close and be mindful of pecking. My youngest is too young to know any better so I'll just have to keep a close eye (pun intended ;) ) on her when she's petting them.

Chickenlover - I meant to say, your coop setup is incredible, it looks like a luxury lakeside holiday park for chickens :D

P.S. Charlotte the Silkie loved being pampered, and didn't need to be held at all when blowing her dry! 

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